DANDELION The teeth of a lion form a jagged line, just like the toothed margin of the leaf of this familiar dooryard plant, the dandelion. "Dent-de-lion" is the French name. Can you read the meaning into it? Dandelions grow wild and rampant over the Temperate Zones of the northern and southern hemispheres, and are always invading new terri tory. The acrid juice has a considerable reputa tion in home remedies concocted by old wives, versed in herbs and simples. Dried roots of dan delion are among the druggist's stock, too. The earliest shoots have a tonic effect on the sluggish system of one who has kept indoors all winter, Boiled as greens, these young dandelion rosettes are just what the hungry man craves and enjoys in April.
The constant demand for wild dandelion greens in the Paris markets led the gardeners to bring in the wild plants, select the best for seed, and thus to improve the species, and make of it a garden pot herb. The wild plant is stringy, and bitter in flavor compared with the crisp, half-blanched, mossy-fringed leaves of cultivated varieties. The improvement is accounted for by good culture in fertile soil. Blanched dandelion salad in early spring is like the endive that comes in fall.